Every night when I was a child

I laid on my bed, oft beguiled

I could not drift into sleep

Because it would always creep

By the foot of my bed

Where it would poke out its head

And wait until the sandman came

So it could begin its game

Now, it was nothing sinister

It would just administer

Tickles until I laughed myself awake

And through the years this would take

My mind off what life depleted

All the arguments that were heated

The shouting and tears

The pushing and fears

That no child should ever face

In the home that was my space

Those nights in my bed

When I wished I was dead

It came without warning

And stayed ‘til the morning,

Tickling until I smiled,

Made me remember I was a child

Those were times long past

And I have searched and I have asked

Tracked and looked and scoured and penned

All to find my long-lost friend

Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Inspired by the Pongkoe legends from Aklan

Pongkoe Illustration by Abe Joncel Guevarra
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It was a moonless night when I saw him

The man who cried fire

I went up to him and asked why

Were they tears of sadness?

Or anger?

He did not reply

The more I asked

The more fire fell from his eyes

And I began to wonder

Does he think I am frightened?

By the pool of glittering red

By the darkness of the night sky

He would not give me an answer

And sought to push me away

But I needed to know

There were different kinds of sadness

Different kinds of anger

And maybe even different kinds of joy

He looked at me with his jet black eyes

Pouring flames onto the ground

He wept for several eternities

Until the light broke from the horizon

And in an instant he was gone

With only a puddle of red

As evidence of his passing

Tomorrow I will return

And the night after that

To ask the crying man

What is behind his tears

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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Inongok Illustration by Joshua Hamangal
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ishart1228